Residential property sales in Metro Vancouver during March 2015 soared to new levels, reaching a nine-year record for the month.

According to new data provided by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, home sales reached 4,060 last month – a 53.7 per cent increase over the 2,641 sales recorded in March 2014. This is also a considerable growth from February 2015’s 3,061 sales.

Compared to long-term data, last month’s sales was 26.8 per cent greater than the 10-year sales average for the month of March.

“We’re seeing strong competition amongst home buyers today. This is leading to more multiple offer situations and some upward pressure on home prices,” Real Estate Board president Darcy McLeod said in a release. “For sellers, this means that it’s taking less time, on average, for your home to sell if you have it priced correctly for today’s market.”

Breaking down home sales

Sales of detached residential properties:

March 2015: 1,711

March 2014: 1,116

March 2013: 933

One-year price difference: 11.2% to $1,052,800

Sales of apartment properties:

March 2015: 1,627

March 2014: 1,106

March 2013: 982

One-year price difference: 3.3% to $390,200

Sales of attached properties:

March 2015: 722

March 2014: 419

March 2013: 432

One-year price difference: 4.9% to $484,900

With the region’s new listing count, there were a total of 5,968 new listings in March for detached, apartment and attached properties – a 13 per cent increase compared to the 5,281 new listings in March 2014.

The number of new listings last month was also marginally higher than the 10-year new listing average for March.

Currently, there are 12,376 residential properties listed for sale in Metro Vancouver, which is a 14.5 per cent decline compared to March 2014 and a 4 per cent increase compared to the previous month.